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Hello good people and thank you for joining me as I break down the 12th episode of Survivor's 35th season: Heroes vs Healers vs Hustlers. While this show had several sloooooow episodes, anyone who stuck with it got a partial payment last week as the 10th episode really brought the fun.

With 2 hours to play with, we saw Lauren step into the forefront of the game and create a 4-person alliance with Ben, Ashley and Devon. With Devon's masterful deception techniques, this foursome took over the game and worked out the ousters of JP and Joe. Ben has playing a secret agent role, at Devon's suggestion, but he has definitely got the attention of his own alliance as Ashley and Devon flirted with taking him out last week. They tricked Ryan into playing his idol and at this point, Ryan, Chrissy and Mike are firmly on the bottom of a 7-person tribe. Lauren still has the extra vote, though, which really gives her the option of moving forward with 3 people, if she thinks it's Ben's time to go. The only thing to worry about, though, is that Ben has an idol that NO one knows about.

Tonight's episode promises the family visit and little else. Will Lauren, Ashley and Devon pull the trigger on a Ben vote tonight? Or will they keep the status quo; dump one of the other 3 and save Ben for next week? What kind of tricks does Dr. Mike have up his sleeve? And do Ryan and Chrissy have any plays left? Joe has been all over Twitter promising awesomeness tonight, so let's stop screwing around and get to it!

We begin tonight at camp after Tribal. Mike was completely blindsided. Again. Ryan was duped and now he knows that Ben is really with Lauren, Ashley and Devon. He and Chrissy are all alone now. Chrissy and Ryan confront Ben about what happened. He told them that his plan just didn't line up with theirs. She starts to talk about how she's always had his back and that he showed true colors tonight. He cuts her off by telling her that she does this every time someone goes against her. Don't mother Ben and get over it, this is Survivor. At this she walks away. Honestly, this is something that has been pretty noticeable this season. Chrissy works with who she wants to work with treats the rest like second class citizens and then gets all self-righteous when someone dares go against her. I liked hearing Ben call her out on it. I don't think it was good for his game, but it's good TV. Chrissy tells us that she is really hurt by Ben and that his response was just being a jerk, not even a friend. She is going to do whatever it takes now to stay in and if she can get back at Ben, she will.

And here it is, per opening, our first Probst Sighting which should also be the loved ones portion of our show. This season, the loved ones will be playing with the Survivors. So let's bring 'em on out. Ashley's dad, Jim, comes out first. Next up is Ryan's dad, Steve. Many tears have flowed and many more are to come, I think. Who the hell would marry Dr. Mike? How about Bari! Totally not what I expected. She looks so young...how the hell did that happen, Dr. Mike? Next up is Lauren's sister, Sunni comes out. She is the spitting image of Lauren and refuses to run. She also makes a pit stop and hugs Jeff on the way. Lauren tells them that her sister is the REAL Survivor fan in the family. Chrissy's husband is next. Keith, come on out. She is thrilled to have someone there that she can trust 100%. Hey Devon - let's meet your mom, Sonya. He completely breaks down. He's been holding it in so well so far and this s his moment to be 100% really real. Last but certainly not least, Ben's wife Kelly. Wow, she looks young too. Maybe I just can't tell a woman's age anymore. Maybe I'm that old.

Ok, that was all touching and stuff, let's get to a challenge. Today's challenge will test how in sync they are. They're going to get bags of marbles. If the player and their loved one draw the same color marble, they stay in the challenge. If they're different, they're out. Last couple standing wins. The loved one will come back to camp for a Survivor bar-be-que. Now, you know they'll get to pick other couples, so this should be really interesting. Especially if Ryan or Chrissy win. Giving a player their family can be a huge motivator when alliance time comes around.

First round, Lauren pulls a white marble. Sunni draws black and they are out. Mike pulls out a white marble and Bari pulls black. As Ryan draws black and his dad draws white, I'm starting to think something is up. No way EVERYone is that unlucky. Jeff's setting them up...this is my prediction. Anyway, Ben draws black and Kelly draws black. Aaaaaand, I'm wrong. Not the first time. Chrissy and her husband both draw black. Ashley and her dad mismatch as do Devon and his mom. There are only 2 left. Ben and Chrissy and their spouses. Ben draws black again. Kelly draws white. Dang! Chrissy draws her second marble and pulls white. Keith draws white and Chrissy wins reward as well as the control over ALL the love. This should be interesting. Jeff lets her know that she can ask one person to come with her. She picks Ryan and his dad. No problem - they're an alliance. She gets to pick one more person and she chooses Dr. Mike and his wife. And she gets one more pick and quickly chooses Ashley and her dad. This leaves Lauren, Devon and Ben without the loved one visit. As we head to break, Chrissy lets us know how petty she is as she boasts about how Ben doesn't get to see his wife and how he'll be so sorry to have crossed her.

We come back from break to the feast. Chrissy tells her husband how she and Ryan are on the bottom and that Ashley is with the other group. She tells us she brought Ashley on the reward because she thinks Ashley would be easy to break. So we see her talking to Ashley and she makes the case that her alliance are a bunch of powerhouses and that she'd like to see Ben go home. Ashley is aware that Chrissy will say anything at this point to get someone on her side. That doesn't mean she's wrong though. Ashley needs to weigh out whether or not now is the time to make a big move. With the numbers as they are and Lauren's extra vote, I think she really needs to wait one more vote. But what do I know? I'm just a dude on the couch with a keyboard.

Back at camp, Ben is fashioning himself a fake immunity idol. He tells us that Ryan's idol should be coming back into the game and he wants to find it. But, in the meantime, he's making and hiding this fake idol hoping that Chrissy or Ryan find it and stop looking for the real one. He shows the idol to Lauren and Devon and they head out to start looking. Lauren doesn't totally understand why he wants to do this, other than to embarrass Chrissy. And if that's really the case, well, Chrissy has a partner in pettiness.

If the idea is to really trick someone into NOT looking for an idol anymore that makes sense. If the idea is just to make someone look stupid and embarrass them, well, that's no better than her bragging about keeping him from his wife. Anyway, Lauren doesn't like how Ben always takes everything down to the personal level. As she's telling us this, she looks down and finds the idol clue. She calls Ben and Devon over. As they come over, she digs a bit and finds the idol. But, it's an idol with a twist. She got half of the idol. The rest will be at the immunity challenge. Either one without the other is useless. So, she'll be on high alert to get the other half of this idol and everything's coming up Lauren tonight!!

We come back from commercial to another Probst Sighting! As we check out the challenge, the camera zooms in on the shell Lauren needs to grab. Today's challenge will have them standing with their arms stretched out. Their fingertips will be pressing up against a couple of discs. Drop one of the discs and you're out. Last one standing is immune from the nonsense happening tonight. 15 minutes in and Ben is really struggling. So is Ryan. After much movement from many people, Ben finally drops out. Chrissy also drop and Ryan follows her out of the challenge. Lauren also drops out of the challenge and promptly grabs the shell to complete her idol. I think she just realized she wasn't going to win, so she bailed and took the idol. 30 minutes in and Mike is really hurting. Ashley moves for the first time and Devon's having fun. Mike drops out and Devon and Ashley remain. Devon asks her if she wants to fight it out or end it. He says that he and Ashley are so tight that either of them having the necklace is the same. He negotiates a shoulder rub from Ashley and then drops out of the challenge. Ashley wins immunity. As we head back to camp, Lauren tells us she completed her idol and with a 4 person majority, Mike, Ryan or Chrissy is going home.

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